Pamela Poole

life as a lipstick geek

January 28, 2010 • 8:10 pm 0

Fatigue

There is a common theme to the last two posts I wrote for Web Worker Daily (which has a spiffy new design, BTW, check it out). One was about how to use a great little app called Tweepi to manage all your followers and followees on Twitter, and the other was about what to do when you are in over your head on a  project. I seem to write about managing chaos a lot. Hmmm… I am feeling very fatigued.

Speaking of fatigue, I saw the expression “social media fatigue” for the first time in a while the other day, just a few days after announcing to my husband “I’m bored with the Internet and Twitter right now.” Maybe that’s what I’ve got.

And of course, with what’s happened in Haiti, the expression “compassion fatigue” is on my mind, especially since I can’t seem to inspire even 188 Francophilia members to donate five bucks each to reach my $1,000 donation goal for earthquake relief. Inspiring is hard work. It’s making me tired. They must be fatigued too…

Filed under: apps, social media, web life , , ,

December 18, 2009 • 10:28 am 2

How to be a nomad in Paris

Of all the terms I’ve heard to describe people who can work anywhere there’s wi-fi, my favorite is nomadic workers. There’s something exciting and mysterious and all Lawrence of Arabia about it.

De tous les appellations que j’ai entendues pour parler des personnes qui travaillent partout où il y a du wi-fi, ma préférée est la nomade attitude. Il y a quelque chose de Lawrence d’Arabie dans cette expression-là, du mystère, de l’intrigue.

London-based nomads now have WorkSnug, a sexy, brand-new augmented reality app for the iPhone that points them directly to work-friendly spaces with wi-fi in their vicinity.

Les londoniens qui ont la nomade attitude ont accès à WorkSnug, une application iPhone en réalité augmentée qui leur indique les espaces conviviaux avec un accès wi-fi à proximité.

Now they’re working on the Paris version of WorkSnug, and I get to do the research.

Bonne nouvelle, WorkSnug travaille désormais sur la version Paris de l’application, et je vais m’occuper de la recherche.

So I’d really like your help in finding the best places where Parisian nomads can hang out online for a while and do some work if they want to. I would like you to recommend places with personality, nice staff, good coffee, and any other characteristics that would make a nomad happy.

J’aimerais donc avoir votre avis sur les meilleurs endroits pour parisiens nomades. Des lieux parfaits pour surfer et/ou travailler en toute sérénité. Vos lieux favoris, pratiques et agréables, où l’on peut boire un bon café, bref tout ce qui pourrait satisfaire la nomade attitude !

If you have a favorite hotspot, please let me know in the comments, by e-mail, or through Facebook or Twitter (right).

Si vous avez un point d’accès wi-fi préféré dans vos tablettes, partagez-le et faites-le moi découvrir dans les commentaires, par e-mail, via Facebook ou Twitter (à droite).

Merci @Myriam pour la traduction ! Thanks Myriam for the translation!

Filed under: apps, web life , ,

December 5, 2009 • 7:11 pm 0

Fondatrix

I’ve just created a Facebook group for women startup founders and management. Just a few weeks ago, I started talking to The Next Women in London about doing some blogging and interviews for them. To do that, I need access to women entrepreneurs. So I took the plunge and created Fondatrix.

It’s something I’ve been thinking of doing for a while now. You see, I’ve been on the web/tech/startup circuit for a couple years here in Paris, and the girlpreneurs are just not visible enough IMHO. And I have a very good idea about why that is… Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: social media, tech events, web life , , ,

November 17, 2009 • 3:20 pm 0

You need a plan

Do you have a content strategy for your own social media presence? If you’re a professional, you probably should. Too many small business/startup blogs and Twitter feeds are too inwardly focused, all about features and updates or the founder’s views and activities.

I give some tips for getting a plan and making your content valuable in my Web Worker Daily article Taking Content Strategy Personally.

Content Strategy Forum 2010 — 15-16 April

Don’t know what content strategy is? Find out in Paris next April at Content Strategy Forum 2010, “for anyone who develops, manages, or delivers content within their own organization or for their clients: user experience designers, information architects, business analysts, technical writers, web project managers, documentation managers, translators, web marketers, practicing content strategists, and those looking to break into the field.”

Filed under: social media, tech events, web life, web trends , ,

November 7, 2009 • 7:20 pm 0

What just happened?

Squizlogo

I rarely try out a new site without being highly conscious of my own user experience. That’s what happens when you’ve been in startup Lala Land for a few years, write for a tech blog, and are married to a UI design expert.

Read my post Online seduction on frogblog, about being a conscious user (but mostly about how I was seduced by Squiz, and their anti-business cards).

Filed under: apps, web life , , , , , ,

October 27, 2009 • 9:59 am 0

Most people haven’t been assimilated. Yet.

Why am I always so shocked when I meet people who, for example, don’t know what Twitter is? (And this happened the other day in Paris, not the Amazon rainforest…) Sometimes we Internet types need a reality check.

Here’s a post I wrote for Web Worker Daily just as a reminder that there are lots of people who live mostly in the brick & mortar universe. There are more of them, in fact, than there are of us:

Filed under: web life, web trends

October 20, 2009 • 8:25 am 0

It’s not easy being…compulsive

I admit I’m compulsive and neurotic about some things. Like recycling. I recycle everything, even the little paper envelopes my teabags come in. (And then agonize about what tea plantations have done to developing countries, the carbon emissions to ship the tea, the fact that so many resources go into creating something that is essentially a non-food. Although it does have anti-oxidants. Then I vow to quit. Almost every day.). You see what I mean by neurotic?

Anyway, I wrote a couple of green-leaning posts for Web Worker Daily recently that I thought I’d share:

Filed under: web life

August 29, 2009 • 12:51 pm 0

What does the Web say about you?

Everybody seems to have at least two cents to contribute to the apparently endless discussion of online identity (or personal branding, or e-reputation, or whatever you want to call it). I have plenty to say about it too; I even give talks on the topic. And since personal branding was the theme on Web Worker Daily last month, I contributed two articles that you might find interesting. Or not. But I do talk about Big Bird and pastries in an attempt to keep you from being too bored…

Filed under: social media, web life, web trends , ,

August 15, 2009 • 8:51 am 3

Burned by a client…

voleu2r

Everybody who knows me knows I’m a champion of French startups: on my own blogs, on Web Worker Daily, and IRL. But I’m on the verge of being really pissed off. There’s a French startup that owes me around 300 Euros for a translation I did, and they’re six months late paying…

The merde is about to hit the ventilateur.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: social media, translation, web life , ,

July 27, 2009 • 3:09 pm 0

What will the Web be when it grows up?

…I’ve spent a few years with my finger on the racing pulse of the Web and I’ll tell you what. There’s a whole lot of crap out there. There are so many utterly ridiculous concepts that have managed to find programmers and investors, so many brain-wasters helping to speed along the decline and fall of Western civilization… We could be doing so much better. It can get depressing sometimes. But the reality is just this, and it will never change:

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: social media, web life, web trends , ,

July 13, 2009 • 6:44 am 3

Miscellany. What else is there, right?

firefox

This week I’m launching an e-commerce site to accompany Francophilia, the social network for francophiles I founded. It’s running on the Zlio platform. It has some limitations, but I’m pretty happy to be able to offer my francophile members one-stop shopping for French and French-themed products!

Just found out my personal blog, frogblog, is ranked 42 of all blogs in the “France” category according to invesp consulting. And I’m in some pretty good company! But you know what they say about stats.

Got my blogging pass for LeWeb ‘09. I’ll be there for Web Worker Daily again this year. I discovered some exciting startups to write about there in ‘08.

I have a new dog. Well, actually, he’s a “used” dog. I even wrote about one of the reasons why someone with my lifestyle should get a dog on Web Worker Daily the other day. It was published on the day I got him from the shelter! His name is Wiley. But we also call him Firefox because he looks like a fox. And, of course, we are Firefox fans.

I got an iPhone! Like Wiley, it’s used — Vincent gave me his 2G when he got a 3GS. I spent Saturday morning playing with it in bed…

Filed under: social media, tech events, web life , , , ,

June 21, 2009 • 8:39 am 0

On days like this I love my work

dico

It was sheer delight translating Claire Ulrich’s article Les Censeurs du Net, originally published in Le Monde 2.

In Internet history, 1994-2004 was the era of the pioneers. 2004-2007 was the era of the merchants. Now we’re entering the era of the bullies. Everywhere in the world, sites are going dark, arrests are increasing, more people are going to prison. The Web just celebrated its 20th birthday. Nobody used to take it seriously, but those days are gone. Read the rest…

Almost as much fun as translating her lyrical Plus belle, ma vie en ligne for Kiva (not available on line, but I will send you a PDF if you wish).

Filed under: language, translation, web trends

June 19, 2009 • 7:02 am 1

Magical mystery tour of France

yourtour

It started with Springwise, which I subscribe to to see what’s hot out of the entrepreneurial oven. It’s always a refreshing read because it’s not only – or even mostly – about Internet startups and the latest Twitter app. You’d be amazed at how many great ideas and insights you can get reading about non-Web innovation…

Springwise occasionally covers Web startups that are truly special, and YourTour.com is one of them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: apps , , , ,

June 7, 2009 • 9:50 am 1

Got the startup blues?

peptalk

Every startup founder dreams of changing the world and/or striking it rich. And everything Internet-related seems to happen so fast that you can be easily fooled into believing that your startup has to be an overnight sensation in order to be considered worthwhile. It does work that way for some people. But most of us have to work really hard for a long time, during which we suffer deeply from user envy. I mean, Facebook gets over half a million new users a day! Nothing like somebody else’s huge stats to make you feel horribly inadequate…

We all have days when we get demoralized and depressed and consider giving it all up for a day job.

If you’re suffering from the startup blues, here’s some good medicine for you that’ll put an end to your user envy…

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed under: web life , ,

May 20, 2009 • 11:37 am 0

More on managing chaos

Doris

I recently found a new BFF in the form of Doris, the task-management app that has become indispensable to me for managing all of my miscellaneous professional and personal tasks.

If you have yet to get a handle on the chaos, read this series of articles on my quest for the perfect task management app!

  1. Doris saved my sanity
  2. Goldilocks and the Holy Grail
  3. What do you have to do to get a decent to-do list around here?
  4. More complex does not mean more robust
  5. Then along came Doris…

I also wrote about Doris on this blog here.

Filed under: apps, web life ,

Twitter Updates

Contact

 pamela.s.poole at gmail

Out and about on the web

I contribute to

I appear on

Speaking engagements

TV & interviews

Social media

My startup

My personal blogs

Virtual me